Principal ground-lease capital

Your land is your cheapest capital.

Valor Ground Lease Ventures buys the land under your hotel, multifamily, or mixed-use deal and leases it back — turning it into permanent, non-recourse capital. You close with far less equity, keep the building, and keep the upside.

Principal capital — we buy the land, no financing contingency on the fee. A decade-plus focused on one structure.
~30–40%
of your basis is land — capital you stop paying cash for
3–4×
in-place NOI covers the ground rent
100%
of the upside and promote stays yours — no dilution
The insight

Your capital stack is the problem — not your asset.

Preferred equity, JV equity, and mezzanine are expensive and dilutive. The land under your deal is your cheapest, most overlooked source of capital. We turn it into permanent, non-recourse money — without taking your upside.

What we do

We buy the land and lease it back.

You sell us the fee.

We buy the land beneath your asset and lease it back on a long-term (99-year) ground lease.

You keep the leasehold.

Operating control, the value-add, and the upside stay with you. No JV partner. No dilution.

Permanent, non-recourse capital.

Priced off the land, not your distress — no balloon, no maturity wall. Retire expensive debt, fund the acquisition, or fill the gap.

In-place income covers the rent.

The ground rent is a fraction of NOI, and we place the leasehold financing on the smaller basis — the whole stack, one counterparty.

Illustrative — a hotel acquisition

$14M of trapped land becomes $14M of cheaper capital.

$40M
all-in basis, 200-key hotel
~$14M
land we buy & lease back
~4×
NOI coverage of ground rent
~$14M
equity freed for you

Illustrative only. On a ~$3.4M stabilized NOI (~8.5% yield), the ground rent runs ~$0.85M — covered ~4×. The ~$14M of land proceeds roughly offsets the equity you'd otherwise inject. Hotels are the highest-impact use: the spread between hotel yields and a ground cap is the value.

Where it works best

Built for income property.

The bifurcation is most powerful on stabilized and value-add income property — where the income covers the ground rent and the freed equity goes straight back to work. Each asset class unlocks it differently.

HotelsHighest impact
Hotels carry the widest yields, so the spread between the hotel yield and a ground cap unlocks the most land value — the structure's best use.
Multifamily
Low cap rates put a large, stable value in the land, and in-place rents cover the ground rent comfortably — with agency leasehold financing available on the smaller basis.
Mixed-use
Complex, multi-tranche capital stacks get simpler — the land value trapped in a dense urban parcel comes out as a single clean layer of capital.
Office repositions
A covered-land play: the land holds value when the building doesn't, and the ground-lease proceeds help fund the reposition the deal needs.

Situations we solve: acquisitions · recapitalizations · refinances · pref / JV-equity takeouts · maturity defaults · distress.

Why Valor

Ground leases are all we do.

Not a side desk inside a brokerage, and not a fund that dabbles. A firm built around one structure — so we see the angles, price it fast, and close deals the generalists can't.

Singular focus.

The fee/leasehold bifurcation is the only thing we do.

A decade-plus, across cycles.

We know where the structure closes, where it breaks, and how to price it.

Principal — not a broker.

We buy the land. We're the counterparty, with capital scaled to the size and shape of your deal.

The whole stack.

We buy the fee and arrange the leasehold financing — one counterparty for the entire capital stack.

Ground lease isn't a product line for us. It's our name.

How it works

Send the deal. We size the land.

Send us the deal.

OM, rent roll, proforma.

We size the land.

An indicative ground value off your stabilized NOI — fast.

We buy and lease back.

Principal capital, no financing contingency on the fee.

You close with less equity.

And keep the building, the operations, and the upside.

Questions, answered

Ground-lease capital — the common questions.

What is a ground lease, in plain terms?

We buy the land under your building and lease it back on a long-term, typically 99-year, ground lease. You keep the building, operate it, and keep 100% of the upside; we own the land and collect ground rent. How a ground lease works ›

How much capital can the land raise?

The land is usually 30–40% of a deal's basis. We monetize it at its value, and the proceeds often offset the equity you'd otherwise inject — non-recourse and non-amortizing. How ground rent is calculated ›

Do I give up my building or my upside?

No. You keep the leasehold — the building, the operations, the value-add, and 100% of the upside and promote. We buy only the land.

Is a ground lease cheaper than preferred equity or C-PACE?

Usually. Ground rent is non-amortizing and a fraction of double-digit preferred equity, mezzanine, or a ~9–11% amortizing C-PACE constant. Ground lease vs. C-PACE ›

Can I still finance the building on leased land?

Yes — leasehold mortgage financing is well-established when the structure is right (long term, mortgagee protections, a recognition agreement). We structure the ground lease to be financed and arrange the leasehold debt. Leasehold financing ›

What do you need to give me a number?

The address, asset type, as-complete stabilized NOI, and total project cost. We return an indicative land value fast — non-binding, as principal or arranged capital. What an indicative bid looks like ›

Send us your deal

We move on real numbers.

Drop in your contact and deal info — we'll come back with an indicative ground value.

Brokers & advisors welcome — bring us your client's deal and we'll hand you a land bid to put in front of them.